<p>Bengaluru: Giving a shot in the arm to Mysore Paper Mills’ (MPM) effort to restart plantation activities on 56,000 acres, a high-level committee of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) has clarified that plantations raised for industrial purposes would be considered forest activities as long as such activities are taken up as per approved working plans.</p>.<p>The revision of guidelines under the amended Forest (Conservation) Act had declared that plantations of low rotation, including plantation of medicinal plants in the forest land, “shall be considered non-forestry” activities. This meant that such plantations were treated as commercial activity and lease of land attracted the compensatory afforestation laws. In cases like MPM, such a rule would involve paying crores of rupees for compensation and other payments.</p>.<p>In MPM, about 5,000 acres of plantation matured for extraction was put off following the guidelines. The MPM management plan expired back in 2022. “Both acacia and eucalyptus are considered of best value for the paper industry between eight and 10 years. Approval from the Centre is required before restarting the activities. We hope that the delay will not have a negative impact,” an official said.</p>.B M Kaval forest: Karnataka HC disposes govt’s appeal.<p>The state government had reached out to the Union ministry, requesting that the lease of the forest lands renewed in 2020 for plantation not be considered as non-forest activity. Soon after, similar requests were received from Kerala, Madhya Pradesh and Uttarakhand. The proposals were placed before the forest advisory committee (FAC) to decide on the policy matter.</p>.<p>The committee deliberated on the matter on December 2 and noted that the Centre had already differentiated between commercial plantations under the Green Credit scheme and those done by the state/union territory governments.</p>.<p>“Plantations proposed to be raised for various purposes, in accordance with the management prescriptions of the Working Plan/Management Plan, with the primary objective of restoring forest land, while also meeting the requirements on a sustainable basis, cannot be considered as entirely commercial or non-forestry activity,” the committee noted.</p>.<p>The committee then decided that “activities undertaken in accordance with provisions of an approved working plan/management plan, applicable in such cases and under the supervision of the state forest department, shall be deemed to constitute forestry activities”.</p>.<p>The committee said the state governments will have the power to devise a framework for using such plantations and for sharing the revenue on a case-to-case basis.</p>
<p>Bengaluru: Giving a shot in the arm to Mysore Paper Mills’ (MPM) effort to restart plantation activities on 56,000 acres, a high-level committee of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) has clarified that plantations raised for industrial purposes would be considered forest activities as long as such activities are taken up as per approved working plans.</p>.<p>The revision of guidelines under the amended Forest (Conservation) Act had declared that plantations of low rotation, including plantation of medicinal plants in the forest land, “shall be considered non-forestry” activities. This meant that such plantations were treated as commercial activity and lease of land attracted the compensatory afforestation laws. In cases like MPM, such a rule would involve paying crores of rupees for compensation and other payments.</p>.<p>In MPM, about 5,000 acres of plantation matured for extraction was put off following the guidelines. The MPM management plan expired back in 2022. “Both acacia and eucalyptus are considered of best value for the paper industry between eight and 10 years. Approval from the Centre is required before restarting the activities. We hope that the delay will not have a negative impact,” an official said.</p>.B M Kaval forest: Karnataka HC disposes govt’s appeal.<p>The state government had reached out to the Union ministry, requesting that the lease of the forest lands renewed in 2020 for plantation not be considered as non-forest activity. Soon after, similar requests were received from Kerala, Madhya Pradesh and Uttarakhand. The proposals were placed before the forest advisory committee (FAC) to decide on the policy matter.</p>.<p>The committee deliberated on the matter on December 2 and noted that the Centre had already differentiated between commercial plantations under the Green Credit scheme and those done by the state/union territory governments.</p>.<p>“Plantations proposed to be raised for various purposes, in accordance with the management prescriptions of the Working Plan/Management Plan, with the primary objective of restoring forest land, while also meeting the requirements on a sustainable basis, cannot be considered as entirely commercial or non-forestry activity,” the committee noted.</p>.<p>The committee then decided that “activities undertaken in accordance with provisions of an approved working plan/management plan, applicable in such cases and under the supervision of the state forest department, shall be deemed to constitute forestry activities”.</p>.<p>The committee said the state governments will have the power to devise a framework for using such plantations and for sharing the revenue on a case-to-case basis.</p>